Remembering when the Chiefs tried to hire Antonio Pierce (at least once)

Some of you might not know this. Others of you might have forgotten. But on the eve of another matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the visiting Las Vegas Raiders, it seems like a good time to remind you that the home team has plenty of respect for the guests despite their miserable record.

While the Raiders are sitting in last place in the AFC West, a familiar spot for them for the last few years, er, decades, the team is led by head coach Antonio Pierce. And if the Chiefs had things their way, he would have been coaching for them for some time now.

Pierce is a popular former player and respected young coach in NFL circles, and that much was on display last season when the Raiders played strong for him in an interim role and the organization believed in him enough to remove the "interim" from his title. While the Raiders are now 2-9 and out of playoff contention by a country mile, the coaching staff is not their primary concern.

Just ask Steve Spagnuolo and the Chiefs what they think of Pierce because they've tried to hire him at least once in the last few seasons. Back in 2019, the Chiefs were remaking their defensive staff as they installed Spags as Bob Sutton's replacement as defensive coordinator. Spags did his best to convince Pierce to be his linebackers coach, but he was just one season into coaching under Herm Edwards at Arizona State and chose to remain on staff there.

After losing out on Pierce, the Chiefs offered the job to Kentucky's DC Matt House. A few seasons later, in 2022, the Chiefs were in need of a linebackers coach once more when House left to coach with Brian Kelly at LSU and Pierce's name was once again brought up in conjunction with the opening.

There's no way of knowing if the Chiefs extended an offer, but Pierce had resigned his position at ASU at that point amid recruiting violations. He ended up signing up to coach the same position with the Raiders. Two years later, here we are at Arrowhead.

So far, Pierce has had mixed results against the Chiefs, but this week he might have tried his most straightforward approach yet, calling his team the worst in football—or at least acknowledging that narrative for Friday's game. We'll see how his players respond.